As Grammy-nominated vocalist Jazzmeia Horn looks out the window of her 11th-floor hotel room in Tokyo, she describes the surrounding skyscrapers, the yellow and pink clouds floating by and Messages — her fourth leader date, released October 25, 2024, via Empress Legacy Records.
In part, Messages, is intended to be a word of encouragement to anyone making tough choices — a reminder that we all make sacrifices. Sometimes, the difficulties encountered along the way are worth it, though.
One of those hardships, for Horn, is being on the road as much as she is. It leaves less time to be with her family. But touring the world also granted Horn, a product of Dallas’ Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, space to ruminate on her relationships — both familial and romantic — how they’ve changed and how they inform her art.
“If you want to sing your own song, if you have a mission, if you have a lyric,” she began, looking out that window in Japan. “Whatever that voice is, that love, that light, that grit — whatever that is inside of you, you have to do that.”As much as those connections are mined for recurring lyrical motifs, Horn’s writing — her messages — readily reassures listeners to focus and pursue their ambitions. It’s also the bandleader bolstering herself against the world.
Horn is among the vanguard in jazz, using her knowledge of the canon to inform decisions firmly rooted in traditional parts of the genre, while still adding in contemporary ideas, themes and music.
“Horn is among the most exciting young vocalists in jazz, with a proud traditionalism that keeps her tightly linked to the sound of classic figures like Nancy Wilson and Betty Carter, but a vivacity of spirit and conviction that places her firmly in the present.”
– New York Times
